Daily News columnist John Harper has come up with the best short-term solution to the Mets' woes - get rid of Oliver Perez now.
I have been opposed to this idea but I have come around. I didn't like the prospect that Ollie's agent Scott Boras could be conspiring to force the Mets to set Perez free so that he could sign with the Yankees or Phillies and suddenly regain his form. Ollie has pitched well in both ballparks. Plenty of teams will be willing to gamble the minimum on Perez, who is still young and appears to be healthy (physically at least).
But as Harper points out, Perez is throwing only 86 mph and "still doesn't know where the ball is going."
A few years ago, the Yankees thought they were being clever when they took Armando Benitez off of the Mets' hands. But they got rid of Benitez just three weeks later.
Squawker Lisa, one advantage of the Yankees getting Ollie is that Joba Chamberlain and A.J. Burnett would no longer have to worry about being the biggest head case on the team.
As Harper notes, dumping Ollie now would send a positive message to the team that they "really do want to win." It would also send the same message to the fans, who have some reason to doubt it.
Just as in the offseason, the Mets are not taking on payroll after saying they would. Bengie Molina and Joel Pineiro were supposedly not worth it. With Molina, the Mets went for a much cheaper option in Rod Barajas, which looked like a good move in May, but now, not so much.
With Pineiro and all the other available pitchers, the Mets tried to say with a straight face that they were no improvement over the likes of Ollie and John Maine.
Actually, I'm more concerned with the Mets giving away prospects for the likes of Ted Lilly than whether or not they take on payroll. After Cliff Lee and Dan Haren, there's not much more that is worth either prospects or payroll.
But perhaps the best thing about eating the rest of Ollie's contract is that it would set a badly-needed precedent. Right now, Luis Castillo is the Mets' best option at second base. But wouldn't it be great if this offseason, the Mets were willing to eat the remainder of Castillo's contract, which will only have a year to run, and finally upgrade the position?
That would be something to look forward to - along with upgrades at manager and GM.
4 comments:
Ollie Perez will be released, Then in his 1st game he will No Hit the Mets
One thing I don't fathom in all that is in the press is the notion that the Mets "are still in it". Check the numbers - they are 50-49; to win the wild card at 90 wins, they would have to go 40-23 the rest of the way. Does anyone believe they could possibly do this with the team they have now? If one says that 87 wins the wild card, the numbers are slightly better at 37-26 but the Giants achieve the same record playing .500 ball.
Yikes, Nutball, you make him sound like, oh, I don't know, Carl Pavano.
As to Jonmouk's point, as the only man to manage both teams to Pennants, Yogi Berra, would say, it's getting late early out there. I know, I know, in '73, he managed the Mets, and they were in as bad a shape then as they are now, and he said, "It ain't over 'til it's over," and they came within 1 win of the World Championship. Those Mets had Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, Cleon Jones and Rusty Staub. These Mets have Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Angel Pagan, Ike Davis and 21 failures.
So the Mets are out of it, and, as a result, we aren't getting "fresh" reports, if you know what I mean.
Good points, UM. The '73 Mets had players who had won a championship - these guys have known nothing but failure. Yogi also managed the greatest 2nd half renaissance in my memory, 51-29 with the 1984 Yankees and they came nowhere close to the post season. All it did was save Yogi's job until the 6-10 start of 1985. I don't think Met fans want Manuel to merely "save" his job again.
Post a Comment